Meridian international center. Thank you for joining us for this program this morning with and belay cp president naacp president derrick johnson. Convenings focused on leaders that may provide insight into some of the big challenges we have today. We have been going through a series of looking into the pandemic and we hope the good ours is recent h something we can count on going forward. Even if that takes place, there is a huge amount of work to be done to rebuild economies and create a future for people. Just as significant has been our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and looking at Racial Injustice in the United States and around the world so we can help come through this pandemic someook at the future and of the real challenges we have had historically in our country. This program is being livestreamed. It is on the record and we are resa, who to have te will be joining us to moderate the panel. She has an extensive background in journalism. Welcome. She has been with political for several months but before that was with stateline covering state issues in the area of Human Services and welfare and has worked for the tribune and a number of other publications. She has been part of a team that was awarded the Robert F Kennedy price for journalism in chicago, where she worked on an investigation into murdered children there. She has dedicated her life to inquiry and shining a light on injustice. She is an author of a book on her journey and the complexity of race. Teresa, thanks for joining us. Willow you and derrick have a good conversation. We like we would like to thank all of our partners for joining us. So over to you. Teresa im happy to be here. Im looking forward to having a really robust conversation with mr. Johnson. Why dont we get into it . Johnson, can you talk a little bit about how the naacp was founded, and some of the historical issues that resulted in it being founded and the issues they were trying to combat at the time, many years ago . And thankood morning, you meridian for the opportunity. The naacp is 111 years old. We were established in the backdrop of several years of after reconstruction, many called this time redemption. It was a time when we saw an upsurge in racial hate crimes, particularly lynching, in the south. It began to spread across the country. A group of africanamericans decided to meet in niagara, canada, to talk about how to the race question. Ida b wells, wb two boys w. E. B. Dubois and others met. There were a group of whites who issue of mobat the violence and race riots, if that wasnt addressed, we couldnt be the democracy we could be. Toy asked a group of blacks meet in new york and that was the establishment of the naacp. As a result, we took on our mission and that mission is advocacy, to impact the formation of Public Policy, understanding it is through Public Policy that change can happen, that racial hatred is more about structures then it is about individual behaviors because structures can influence individual behaviors or put guardrails in place. The first Major Campaign was antilynching legislation, giving the federal government the authority to go into local jurisdictions to investigate, prosecute, and convict individuals involved because the there were too many during restrictions jurisdictions where local Law Enforcement was involved in public lynchings. After this, there was a campaign in response to the release of a movie called birth of a nation, recognizing that the images that are projected on the screen will really influence how individuals are treated in the streets. This was significant because this movie touted the virtues of a racial hate terrorist group, the ku klux klan. It was disheartening to see the movie being screened in the white house in 1915. As a result of the movie, the fledgling Small Organization became a national organization, so much so that by the 1930s there were more members of the klan in michigan or indiana than there were in states like georgia or alabama. Teresa can you talk about how the naacp is structured . I know there is the Legal Defense fund. And chapters around the country. Can you break it down . Derrick sure. , we are structured with local units. We call them units, but they could be branches, youth councils, college chapters, across the country in 47 states, over 2200 units from hawaii to connecticut, from alaska to florida. Those are the volunteers that make up the association, the advocacy voice. We established a legal and a law professor at Howard University and some of his students came on board to be part of the Legal Department. Thurgoodincluding marshall and several others. In 1955, part of the Legal Department split off and established the Legal Defense fund. The Legal Defense fund is now a separate entity from the naacp. We coordinate and collaborate a lot. The naacp still has a vibrant Legal Department. We are all working towards the same outcome, equity and opportunity in the United States, but the Legal Defense fund focuses on legal advocacy and we actually focus on advocacy through our volunteers across the country from local state and federal levels. Teresa so we are in this moment now, this massive racial reckoning, and the black lives Matter Movement have its been has been accumulating support and racial protests have been in the public eye more than ever in the wake of the wrongful death of george floyd. Why in your view has 2020 been the Tipping Point towards finally, suddenly everyone, this is front and center for everyone . Why now . What were the forces, these issues have been under the surface for years. Is it the pandemic . What is going on in your view . Derrick in my opinion, it could be many factors but here are some things. Anyone with a smartphone and a social media platform is an instant reporter. It allows for the democratization of media unlike we have ever seen before. The last three and a half, four years have been really intense with racial messaging, so much so that the environment has become very toxic. There has been a complete breakdown of civility. People are unable to communicate what was a regionalized aggressive problem has become a National Issue in terms of using the tool of race to advance political outcomes. Overlay that with the restlessness people are feeling economically, the restlessness people are feeling as a result of being quarantined due to of a, the visual depiction black man being murdered in broad daylight in the street was notnesses, and there consideration for his life. And people responding. And what has been really unique this year, unlike any other year that i am aware of, is that the response has been acrosstheboard from all communities. You see young, old, black, white, male, female, behind a rallying cry, a factual statement, this isnt about an organization or a hashtag, this is a factual statement that black lives matter. Under our constitution, we have inalienable rights. And that is a social contract that people begin to question. Are we truly living up to the social contract that all men and women are created equal . And if we are, how do we enforce that . How do we remove the stain of the legacy of this nation from those lynchings in the Public Square and continue to see the murder of a black man in broad daylight by those who were sworn to uphold and protect, and i think all of these things together created a response like we have not seen in the history of this country, i believe. Things,one of the other preliminary estimates and nationwide polls, racism in the u. S. Was considered the most important problem or one of many important problems for 71 of voters. 21 cited racial inequality is the issue that mattered most in society and in how they voted for president and that was second only, second only to the economy. How does the ends the end blake cp intent to work towards the naacp intent to work towards reducing inequality . We talk a lot about racial inequities and righting the wrongs, but pragmatically speaking, what would that look like . Derrick there is federal Public Policy. Many of the programs that were created that benefit all had blind spots. That created inequity. Take Social Security. When it was established, there was an exception in the law that individuals who work domestic or Agricultural Workers were exempt from Social Security. 80 of africanamericans at the time were agricultural or domestic workers. So there were decades when you had individuals who were unable to fully benefit, pay into and benefit from the Social Security program, and they worked hard every day. Teresa and they were predominantly black. Of Agricultural Workers and domestics at the time were africanamericans. We were locked out of that. You look at the creation of the federal Home Mortgage program, perhaps the most successful programming creating wealth in this country because for the first time people could actually go to the bank and qualify for a Home Mortgage and build equity. There was a decision in the creation of the law that local bankers and developers would determine who would qualify and who wouldnt. Locking out africanamericans an decades, resulting in inability to build wealth through homeownership although we worked really hard and we had no protection. Then you have the scenario with School Zoning and the whole school integration, where in 1954, 1955, brown v. Board of education said you couldnt discriminate against children or in society based on race, but we found using the Home Mortgage program, School Districts were being created outside of urban cores or outside of pockets and communities were being constructed and they had restrictive covenants so africanamericans could move into certain areas, therefore increasing the Property Value to fund the schools in some areas and depressing Property Values, which took away access to a quality education for all children. Today, we are looking at the reality of, when a child is born, his zip code will determine the likelihood of a different quality of life. A child can literally live across the street from another and be in two separate environments based on their zip code because of the quality of the school district. The quality of the services are different. The redlining or the lack of services from the private sector is lacking. The thing about detroit, michigan, the borderline between the city of detroit and the city of dearborn, the same Housing Stock but the cost to own a home in one area compared to the other, just across the street different it is a reality. In dearborn, they are paying probably three times less inhome insurance, and three to four times less in car insurance. Teresa property taxes as well. Derrick property taxes, home value. And there is no quality difference in the Housing Stock, there are no environmental differences in terms of the youty of that zip code, yet see two different realities. So the child born in that zip code will face a different prospect in life. It is unfortunate that we have allowed our Public Policy to continue to foster these inequities. Over decades. Mind, so with that in the president elect, joe biden, committed to Racial Equity being one of his priorities in his forthcoming administration. In your view, what is the single most meaningful policy the executive branch could deliver on this front that no Prior Administration has, especially divided congress and very divided state of politics in america . I think the most important thing you just said was the last thing, the divided congress, because if the leader of the senate is consistent with the statement he made in 2008 and continues that type of in 2008,to governing, after former president obama was elected, he said the single most important thing was do all he could to ensure that barack obama failed, and his goal was to stop progress. And he did that effectively, unfortunately. That is why there were so many vacancies in the federal court and why it was difficult to get people confirmed, because when you are the majority in the senate, you can impede or stop any forward thinking or progress. So it is hard to say with a single thing what the single thing this administration can do. Not only is the senate divided, there is intentionality not to allow anything to move inconsistent with one Value Proposition. But i dont know if it is a Value Proposition because this country is looking at the worst debt we have seen in history. They spend more money than we have ever seen. And the whole concept of being fiscally responsible went out the door over the last four years. So i can hear clearly that there is going to be this rallying cry to be fiscally responsible when it comes to programs and opportunities to benefit the whole. And lets be clear, many of the opportunities we will pursue for africanamericans are not only for africanamericans, they are for everybody. Teresa talk about how that plays out. Derrick if you have a tax policy scheme that ensures those who have more support because the pro for the support they provide maintains infrastructure that is required for us to function, you open up opportunities to properly Fund Education no matter what zip code a child lives in, you can ensure that you can have a domestic Workforce Program to construct bridges and roads that can employ more people, that we can take a serious look at the student debt crisis. Crisis ist debt loan inbad as the housing crisis 2008, but we havent hit the bubble. We are right on the teetering point. On top of that, many of the individuals who were impacted because of the student loan crisis was the result of for profit predatory colleges that shouldnt have existed. Now, you have individuals who served in our military, individuals who were pursuing avenues to better themselves in life, who were promised a degree that are not marketable yet they are strapped with debt. We have to address that. The federal government owns its debt. How do we address that so we can stimulate the economy . If you give households that 300 500 per month they are paying on the student loan and you free that ive, that is more money to grow the economy. Henry ford had the best comment i have heard, that he had to pay his workers a livable wage so they could buy the cars so his company could be successful. We have to do more for people so they can be a part of the Economic System so we all can do better. Those are policies that are raceneutral, but have a positive impact on africanamerican communities. Not to mention the question around housing, Housing Stock, there are so many things. It is hard to say one thing because there are so many inequities and need to be addressed. Teresa i want to pivot and ask you about the past election and what actions did the naacp do to encourage voter turnout and lower barriers to voting . There have been incredibly difficult hurdles to surmount in order to vote for black americans. Derrick just like meridian, we are nonpartisan so we didnt advocate for any Political Party or candidate. Our job, my job when i walked into this position three years ago, was to have a data driven program to identify africanamericans who were seen as voters, they were registered to vote but they voted infrequently. We saw a sharp turn down in vote percentage in the 2016 election for the first time in 20 years. Approachout at an where we communicated with the infrequent voters across the country, particularly in priority states where africanamerican participation would have an increase in the voice or the outcome of the election. That is not asking people to vote a particular way, but we know when africanamericans turnout, we vote like minded. That is not about Political Party. It is about an agenda, it is about how parties have toiculated their willingness address systemic, structural barriers for the Africanamerican Community. We were successful in that. Whether you look at the turnout in detroit, the increase, or kenosha or milwaukee, substantial increase, philadelphia increased, pittsburgh, atlanta, we were in those jurisdictions and we constantly talked to voters who were infrequent voters. We had over 200,000 volunteers who joined the ranks to begin conversations. We pared people off in areas where they lived so if you signed up as a volunteer, we gave you people in your neighborhood and in some cases they were people in your home who hadnt voted in 2016. We have a program through our original pilot in 2018, during the midterm election, that we expanded in terms of removing barriers where possible. We communicated with Election Administrators on how we could best support or identify resources, particularly in areas where there were early voting. We did a strong Education Program so people could understand how to navigate the voting process in a pandemic. And we filed a lawsuit this morning, we have been filing lawsuits from before the election and we will contin